New York was once a national leader in protecting the rights of injured workers. But in recent years, its worker’s compensation system has seriously eroded, as legislative changes have been made to decrease benefits for workers, all to increase insurance profits & reduce employer costs. In its current state, the NY workers’ comp system does not adequately support injured workers and puts them in extreme financial hardship as they recover. Hold your lawmakers accountable and protect the workers in our communities! 

The Issue: Benefit inadequacy

Relative to neighboring states and the rest of the country, New York is extremely behind in that it has incredibly low minimum & maximum weekly benefit wages for injured workers, which put them in tough financial situations.

 
NY has a maximum weekly benefit of $934 (31st in the nation), and a minimum weekly benefit of $150 (24th in the nation). To put this into perspective, the average minimum benefit of four neighboring states (MA, VT, CT, and NJ) is double that, at $304.
Given that New York has the 4th highest living costs in the nation and is considered a generally progressive state for social and economic policies, these figures are concerning.

Why does this matter?

In NY state, an injured worker receives at most two-thirds of their prior average weekly wage for the time that they are injured. Workers who receive two-thirds are exclusively those deemed “totally impaired”, meaning they are not physically able to work. If a worker’s degree of physical impairment is anything less than total (“partially impaired”), they receive only a fraction of two-thirds depending on the degree of impairment. 

According to this policy, an injured worker with a 50 percent impairment would receive a benefit equal to 50% of two-thirds of their prior weekly wage. Therefore they would receive only 1/3 of their prior wage.

To put this into perspective, imagine that this worker is paid the state minimum weekly wage of $472. After his 50 percent impairment, he would receive a workers’ comp payment of only $157.33 per week, or $630 per month - With such pathetic benefits like that, how is he supposed to support his family? And examples like these are commonplace - in 2019, 73% of cases were classified as “partial impairment”, meaning that 73% of injured workers received less than two-thirds their weekly wage. 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, insurance profits are soaring.

While injured workers are losing their livelihoods, insurance profits have never been higher. From 2014-2018, there was a 28% decrease in the dollar value of worker benefits, while insurance company profits increased by 200%. In 2018 alone, workers’ compensation insurance companies made over $1.6 billion in profits.    

 

 

New York's workers' compensation system is not what it used to be. Over the years, it has favored insurance companies and employers, at the expense of the very workers it was created to protect. 

By signing this petition, you are supporting the following changes:

1. Raise the minimum & maximum weekly benefits to adequately support New York’s injured workers

2. Follow in the steps of most states in the nation, and increase the ratio of benefits to a worker’s wage to higher than two-thirds

3. Adjust the base wage for increases in a worker's earning potential  

 

Hold your lawmakers accountable and protect the workers of New York!